This summer has been a season jam-packed with a rapid succession of family reunions, road trips to visit far-flung loved ones, and hosting what a friend impishly refers to as “house pests.” As a non-parent introvert, I’m saturated.

The extended immersion in family gatherings involves everyone else’s children. Doesn’t matter if the kids are absent or in attendance. They’re still omnipresent, mentioned frequently as a main topic of conversation.

I sit largely on the sidelines as witness to the importance of family. Without my own kids or living parents, I listen much more than I talk. I feel more like window dressing than clan member. It’s been this way for years.

Granted, it can be interesting to watch how the different family units interact with one another. The parents with young children operate much as they do when at home, focused almost exclusively on overseeing, entertaining, and managing the movements of their kids. The older children occupy center stage, with nary a question posed to the rest of us; we make up the adoring audience that eggs them on. Some performances are charming, while others, I confess, can bore or even annoy.

Adolescent cousins band together, stealing away from the family to share hot new games, funny TikTok posts, and important influencers the rest of us have never heard of. Parents lure their

© Psychology Today